VIDEO Maia Sandu, after the report of the US Congress that accuses Brussels of interference through censorship in the elections of the member states: “Freedom of expression is for people, not for bots”

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, rejected accusations that the European Union exerted pressure to censor online content during the election, arguing that freedom of expression must be protected “for people, not for fake accounts and not for bots”. The reaction comes after the publication of a report by the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives, which also targets Romania and which caused reactions in Brussels.

During a show on the TV8 channel, the head of the neighboring state was asked what she thinks about the report published in the USA.

“Freedom of expression is for people, not for fake accounts, not for bots and all that stuff. I understand that the platforms want no regulation, no one to tell them anything, to make money from those who fund bot armies, bot farms and what you want. For them, money matters. For us, the health of our democracy matters and democracy is about people and freedom of expression is for people, whether we like it or not what these people say or we don't like it,” said Maia Sandu, quoted by NewsMaker.md.

“In the case of Romania, TikTok, which has almost two billion users – that is, unique accounts – and we had a candidate who, in a few days, ended up being in 9th place among these two billion accounts, with zero expenses. So, what are we talking about here? (…) I repeat, these platforms must follow some rules”, said Maia Sandu.

According to Maia Sandu, “the biggest problem is when we talk about fake accounts, which amplify inauthentic content”.

“There is a lot of money behind these operations, and what about us? We have to sit and accept such behavior, because they want to make money and want to control? The Republic of Moldova is a small country. A platform can come here and control the whole space”, added the head of the Moldovan state.

Asked why this commission issued such a report, Maia Sandu said that “I don't know who is on the commission, but we know that in the United States there are platforms, there are platform owners. It is very clear that this is where it comes from, from these platforms and from the owners of the platforms, these requests come. We have to defend our democracy and, I repeat, freedom of expression is for people, not for fake accounts.”

A preliminary report of the Judiciary Committee of the US Congress casts doubt on the decision to cancel the presidential elections in Romania, the Republicans in this committee noting that there is no evidence of Russian interference and accusing the European Commission of interfering, through censorship, in the elections in the member states. The European Commission rejected the allegations, saying they were completely unfounded.